Why did they do less pins for the SCSI drive on the Portable?

[Froggy814]

I had the unique thought, why does the Macintosh Portable use a 34 connector instead of a 50 Pin? I mean space constraints makes sense, but all other SCSI drives of the time were 50 pin, so does that make the Portable's drive actually a SCSI architecture? And why didn't the 34 pin design kick off if it took up less space? Speed?
Thanks! - Froggy

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dunno, WAG:

Connector size on Logic Board?
Less wired lines on custom cable build?
Very short run, comparable to the later fully shielded 50 pin LC cables?

Only 25 lines needed for Apple's half-@$$ non-compliant external connector.

 

[finkmac]

look at a pinout of a scsi connector and you'll notice most of the pins are ground.
considering the db25 scsi port apple used isn't really spec-compliant, I guess they didn't mind also breaking specs with the portable.

i'd imagine board space constraints were the reason they chose a smaller connector with power integrated.
why didn't it take off? it's a proprietary "spec", you'd have to custom order the drives... and 2.5" SCSI drives appeared a year or two after. there goes any space saving advantages.